China Q1 industrial profit goes up

Beijing: Major Chinese industrial firms saw their combined profits rise 12.1 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2013, official data showed Saturday.

The profits of industrial companies with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan ($3.2 million) amounted to 1.17 trillion yuan in the first three months, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

In March alone, their profit rose 5.3 percent year on year to 464.9 billion yuan, reported Xinhua.

The growth came as China's GDP growth unexpectedly slowed to 7.7 percent in the first quarter, after seeing a 7.9-percent expansion during the final quarter of 2012.

Details show private companies outperformed other firms, with combined profits up 17.8 percent year on year in the first quarter. State-run enterprises and overseas-funded companies saw profits up 7.6 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively, during that period.

Revenues from primary businesses at major industrial companies climbed 11.9 percent year on year to 22.2 trillion yuan.